Members new Executive Board NWO known
The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) has taken an important step in the transition to a new organisation with a new governance. The members of the new Executive Board, who will assume their responsibilities with effect from 1 January 2017, are now known.
Besides the new chair of NWO announced at the start of June, professor Stan Gielen, the Executive Board will consist of a member for Operations and Finances and four scientific members, who after the amendment to the NWO Act will each chair one of the future domain boards. These four scientific members are professor Ineke Braakman, professor Jeroen Geurts, professor Jaap Schouten and professor Wim van den Doel. Caroline Visser will be the board member with the portfolio Operations and Finances. The members of the new Executive Board will assume their responsibilities on 1 January 2017.
"The current board of NWO is delighted about the new appointments and looks forward to realising a supple and quick transfer in the autumn in good consultation with the new board," says Jos Engelen, chair of the Governing Board of NWO.
New NWO: new organisation and new board structure
The organisation of NWO will be set up in a more efficient and transparent manner. The current nine divisions of NWO will be clustered into four domains: Exact and Natural Sciences (ENS), Applied and Engineering Sciences (AES), Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) and Health Research and Development (ZonMw). Furthermore, the institutes will be brought together in an institutes organisation. With effect from 1 January 2017 the organisation will start with the new organisation structure and the members of the new Executive Board will assume their responsibilities. After an amendment to the NWO Act, Ineke Braakman, Jaap Schouten and Wim van den Doel will become the domain chairs of ENS, AES and SSH respectively. Geurts will start on 1 January as the chair of the independent ZonMw, which is expected to be integrated as the fourth domain within NWO by the start of 2019. The future Executive Board of NWO will function as a collegiate board and will be responsible for the integral strategy and programming of the organisation and the allocation of the budget across the domains and institutes. These changes will enable NWO to position itself more strategically, to increase its decisiveness and organisational capabilities, to deploy funds more flexibly, and to increasingly work with a single coherent programming.
About the members of the new Executive Board
Prof. L.J. (Ineke) Braakman (1960) will become the chair of the new NWO domain Exact and Natural Sciences (ENS) with effect from 1 January 2017. Ineke Braakman has been Professor of Cellular Protein Chemistry at Utrecht University (Bijvoet Centre for Biomolecular Research) since 2000 and studies the formation of proteins in our cells and the possible abnormalities in these that can lead to diseases such as cystic fibrosis, Alzheimer's and ALS. Between 2006 and 2012 she was a member of the board of the NWO Chemical Sciences division.
Prof. H.W. (Wim) van den Doel (1962) will become the chair of the new NWO domain Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) with effect from 1 January 2017. Since 2008 Wim van den Doel has been dean of the Faculty of Humanities at Leiden University. Until 2012 he was a member of the board of the Clingendael Institute. Between 2012 and 2013 he was a member of the evaluation committee of NWO.
Prof. J.J.G. (Jeroen) Geurts (1978) will become the new chair of the ZonMw domain with effect from 1 January 2017. He is a brain researcher and since 2012 he has been Professor of Translational Neurosciences at the VU University Medical Center (VUmc) in Amsterdam. Between 2013 and 2015 he was president of De Jonge Akademie of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. He was also closely involved in the realisation of the Dutch National Research Agenda, for example as the figurehead for the brain, cognition and behavioural sciences (together with the developmental psychologist Eveline Crone).
Prof. J.C. (Jaap) Schouten (1959) will become chair of the new NWO domain Applied and Engineering Sciences (AES) with effect from 1 January 2017. He is Professor of Chemical Reactor Technology at the Faculty of Chemical Engineering at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) and dean of this faculty since 2011. Jaap Schouten is vice-chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Institute for Sustainable Process Technology (ISPT) and member of the Board of the Foundation Chemelot Institute for Science and Technology (Chemelot InSciTe). From 2007 to 2011 he was a member of the board of the NWO Chemical Sciences division.
C.E. (Caroline) Visser (1968) will become the portfolio holder Operations and Finances within the Executive Board of the new NWO with effect from 1 January 2017. Since 2008 she has worked for WWF Netherlands, first as CFO (Chief Financial Officer) and then as COO (Chief Operating Officer). In 2015 she transferred to WWF International where she led the design and implementation of the reorganisation of the nature conservancy organisation and the WWF International secretariat.
About the appointment procedure
After the open recruitment of the chair, an appointment committee proposed the other five members of the new Executive Board to the Minister of Health, Welfare and Sport, Edith Schippers, and the State Secretary for Education, Culture and Science, Sander Dekker. State Secretary Dekker appointed Jeroen Geurts, Ineke Braakman, Jaap Schouten, Wim van den Doel and Caroline Visser as new members of the Executive Board of NWO with effect from 1 January 2017. Minister Schippers appointed Jeroen Geurts as chair of ZonMw, and as chair of the future domain board of ZonMw with effect from 1 January 2017.
About NWO
The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research is one of the biggest science-funding bodies in the Netherlands and ensures quality and innovation in science. Each year NWO invests about 700 million euros in more than 6,000 research projects at universities and knowledge institutions. These concern research driven by scientific curiosity as well as research into societal issues. Based on the advice of independent researchers from the Netherlands and abroad NWO selects the best research proposals. NWO encourages national and international collaboration, manages and funds eight national research institutes, invests in large-scale research facilities, and promotes the use of research results.